You Can't Save Me
by samwinchestergirl33
Summary: The summer after Hunter almost did something he regretted, the Hollingsworth children are faced with another tragedy. Warnings: Attempted suicide, violent thoughts, mentions of past abuse. Four to six shot
1. Chapter 1

**You Can't Save Me**

 **Summary: The summer after Hunter almost did something he regretted, the Hollingsworth children are faced with another tragedy.**

 **Warnings: Attempted suicide, violent thoughts, mentions of past abuse.**

 **Part One: Hands Stained With Red**

Frankie Hollingsworth let out a laugh as she pulled away from her boyfriend, Jonah, dark hair wet and curling from their swim in the pool. She shrugged on the long tee-shirt she'd used as a cover up and headed inside the house to ask her brother, Hunter what he wanted on his pizza. As she walked down the hall to his room, she couldn't help but feel a deep since of dread rip at her heart. "Hunter?" She asked softly, hesitantly. When she didn't get an answer she brought a shaking hand to the knob and turned it. The door opened and a scream ripped from her throat at the sight before her.

Her twin brother was on the floor, blood spilling from his wrists. A knife was a few inches from his limp hand, obviously from where he'd dropped it. Frankie didn't even think as she ran to his side and tried to stop the bleeding. "Hunter, why did you do this?" She whispered, not caring about the blood that stained her hands or her shirt.

"Frankie? What happ-" Jonah cut himself off and his eyes widened at the sight of his girlfriend on the floor with her motionless brother. Her head whipped around and stared at him with haunted brown eyes as she yelled for him to call 911. He nodded and pulled his phone from his pocket to do as she asked.

Frankie startled when what seemed like seconds later, Jonah came in and gently pulled her away from her brother so the paramedics who'd just arrived could see to him. "I gotta call my mom, dad, and Miles." She choked out as she watched her brother be lowered onto a stretcher.

Jonah nodded in understanding and handed Frankie her phone that he'd grabbed along the way.

* * *

Miles was spending time with Tristan when he received the call. As soon as he saw who it was, he answered it. "Frankie?" He said her name clearly, smile on his face quickly turning downward as he heard her wails. He could barely understand her through her sobs. All that he could really catch was the name of his brother. He let go of Tristan's hand and stood up quickly. "Frankie, please breathe. You aren't going to do Hunter any good like this, okay? Did you already call mom and dad?"

"They're on their way. That don't seem to care, though. Daddy just whined about how this would be bad press." Frankie choked out, curling up in her seat as Jonah drove them to the hospital.

He clenched his fist to his side at that and took a deep, calming breath. "Okay. Well, I'll be there in a couple minutes, okay Frankie? Just hang on." He hung up his cell and turned to look at Tristan. "Do you think there's any chance that you or your parents can drive me to the hospital? My brother's in trouble."

Tristan nodded in understanding, not pushing as he wrapped an arm around Miles' shaking shoulders and led him out to the driveway.

* * *

Frankie was laying, curled up on one of the uncomfortable chairs in the waiting room, head resting on Jonah's shoulder as his arms wrapped around her protectively. There was no news as of yet of how her brother was doing and her parents had yet to arrive so she wouldn't be able to get news even if there was any. She could only hope that Miles would be here soon. She needed her older brother.

"Frankie!" Miles shouted as he hurried down the hall, stumbling a bit as she practically threw herself into his arms. He let go of Tristan's hand so that he could hold his sister. He ran a hand through her hair, cradling the back of her head, reminiscent of the way he'd held their brother months ago. "Shh...you need to breathe. What happened?" He asked Jonah, taking note of his sister's boyfriend for the first time.

The boy in question stood, shuffling his feet. "I don't know. Things were going good, today. We got Hunter to watch a movie with us and after it was done, he went to his room while Frankie and I went out for a swim. We were getting hungry so Frankie went inside to go and ask him what he wanted on his pizza and she found him lying on his bedroom floor with his wrists slit. I heard her scream and I found her trying to stop the bleeding."

"There's no news?" Tristan asked, finally speaking up. Despite what Hunter had almost done to him those months ago, he couldn't help but feel bad for the kid and the pain that this was causing Miles and Frankie.

Frankie shook her head against her brother's chest and pulled away slightly, hiccupping. "They're still working on him. Even if they weren't, they couldn't tell us anything until mom and dad get here."

"Where _are_ they, anyway?" Miles growled, leading his sister back to the seats. "They should've gotten here before me. You called them first." To be truthful, Miles wasn't too surprised by his parents lack of concern. After all, his father was an abusive prick and his mother would rather ignore what was right in front of her. Knowing them, they were probably trying to find a way to use what Hunter had done to garner sympathy for themselves. He stewed in his anger for awhile before he was interrupted by their father calling out their names.

Frankie stayed by his side, paying their mother and father no mind.

"About time you showed up." Miles couldn't help but scoff, rolling his eyes.

"Why would your brother do this? He's got to know how it will make us look!" Mr. Hollingsworth said, voice filled with disgust, not at all worried for his son.

"What the _hell is wrong_ with you? Your son is fighting for his life in the ICU and all you bitch about is your reputation! Have you ever thought that you might be part of the reason that he did this?" Frankie Hollingsworth spit out, rage filling her to the brim.

Her father took a step forward, hand raised as if to slap her when Jonah and Tristan stepped between she and Miles and their father and mother.

Before anything could happen, a doctor hurried down the hall, grim expression on his face. "Are you Mr. Hollingsworth's parents?" The grey haired doctor asked.

 **Next Chapter: Prognosis, explanations, and confrontations.**


	2. Chapter 2

**You Can't Save Me**

 **Part Two: Dirty Little Secrets**

"That's us." Diana Hollingsworth spoke up, still clinging to her husband's arm.

Frankie and Miles stood up as well, linking hands and standing as close as they could get.

"Is our brother alright?" Miles questioned softly, gently squeezing his little sister's hand reassuringly.

The doctor nodded. "He cut deep, but we managed to stop it. He's asleep right now and when he wakes up, he may be out of it because he's pretty heavily medicated. We are going to keep him here for a few days for evaluation and suicide watch. However, there was something else that concerned us when we removed his clothing to put on a hospital gown."

Frankie froze at those words and her nails dug into Miles' hand, breathing becoming heavy. She knew instinctively what the doctor was saying. She'd thought it strange when her twin had about had a panic attack when she'd burst into his room while he was slipping on is shirt. There was the fact that he'd been refusing to swim, despite the scorching weather and even if he did, he'd keep a tee-shirt on. From how tense her brother was next to her, she knew that he had the same feeling. "What did you see?" She asked, voice strained, trying to control the rage thrumming through her body.

"There were multiple healed fractures and contusions, along with fresh wounds all over his body. We've only seen things like this in severe cases of abuse." The doctor looked at the family in front of him, noting the way that the girl who'd asked the question through a look of accusation at her father before shuffling closer to her older brother. His eyes narrowed suspiciously and he glanced at Mr and Mrs. Hollingsworth but their faces were impassive, not even a bit of concern on their faces. "I've already called in the police. They're going to want to ask all of you some questions."

Tristan and Jonah let out sharp gasps at those words feeling totally shocked. Jonah especially. Frankie had never let on that their father was abusive and he'd never seen any bruises on her. He wondered why that was or if his girlfriend's father only physically abused her brothers. Whatever the matter, Frankie had seemed to know what the doctor was getting at before he'd said a word about what he found.

"Listen, I don't know what you're getting at, but I don't like your tone!" Mr. Hollingsworth said, voice cold as steel. "If my son is hurt, you should be out, looking for who did it. Not accusing me or my wife."

Miles broke free from his sister, turning his head to look at her reassuringly before he stepped forward. "I'll gladly tell the police all they need to know as soon as they get here. I just have to ask, is it possible to keep _them_ away from us? And away from our brother?" He wondered, not bothering to call his parents by their names as he pointed at them. There wasn't much he could do at the moment. But he could do this.

The doctor-Doctor Richards smiled sadly at Miles and then at Frankie, marveling at how brave the two of them were being in this moment. He couldn't imagine he'd have the strength to be this strong. "Of course. You two can go on in, now. He's asleep. But you'll at least be able to see that he's right. I'm just going to take your- _parents_ into my office." He spat out the word, "parents" as if it were a curse and stepped forward with authority after telling the two teens where their brother's room was.

* * *

Frankie walked over to Jonah, still looking stunning to him with her bloodstained cover up, covered by his large jacket that swallowed up her petite form, tear streaked face, and messy hair.

"Thanks for staying with me. And for helping with Hunter until the ambulance came." She swallowed the lump in her throat and swiped at the annoying tears that began to spill from her dark brown eyes. "I never wanted you to find out about my dad like that, though." She laughed bitterly.

Jonah shook his head emphatically. "Hey. No. Don't apologize." He assured her, resting his hands on her small shoulders, bringing up on hand to cup her face, thumb gently swiping away her tears. "I get why you didn't tell me. Now, you go ahead and see your brother, okay?" He leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead before pulling away from her, watching her nod and smile at him before heading down the hall. He turned to face Tristan when the Hollingsworth children were out of sight. "Did you know about this?" He questioned. Tristan had been a part of Miles' life for longer than he'd been in Frankie's so maybe he had known.

Tristan shook his head. "No. I mean...there were hints with how Miles behaved and how self destructive he was when were together. But Miles never tried to talk about it with me." He answered truthfully. "Things make sense, though." He bit his lips as he thought of what had occurred a few months ago with Hunter and the missing gun. Hunter's aggressiveness over what seemed to be the smallest things. How the boy had calmed upon hearing his brother's voice on the phone.

"Yeah. I was thinking about how Frankie's behavior suddenly makes sense now, too." Jonah replied, shifting and looking at his hands in thought.

* * *

Frankie gasped at the sight of her brother's pale form. He looked so small on the hospital bed and bruises-new and faded stood out on his arms and the part of his chest revealed by the hospital gown. She wondered how she hadn't noticed that her twin was hurting. Why she had just thought her father's abuse would stop. She'd been a fool. She and Miles stepped closer to the bed and Frankie reached out to hold her brother's hand, gaze focused on the bandages for a moment.

Miles leaned over to kiss his brother's forehead, gently running a hand through his hair. His heart ached as he thought of what his brother had been going through and he wondered how long it had been going on. Miles was so quiet and introverted that he hadn't seen a clue and he got the feeling that his sister hadn't, either. His fists clenched and he took some calming breaths. When Hunter woke up, things were going to change. Miles was going to get them out of this situation. He was going to get them away from their abusive father and neglectful mother. His brother and sister would never be abused again. And he was going to make sure his siblings got the help they so desperately needed.


	3. Chapter 3

**You Can't Save Me**

 **Part Three: Ripped At Every Edge, But You're a Masterpiece**

Miles awakened to moaning and his eyes fluttered open. He took a few moments to adjust to his surroundings and then looked at Hunter. The younger boy was now awake, blue eyes filled with confusion. "Hunter." He breathed, feeling his sister move her head away from his shoulder, awakened from the noise. "How are you doing?" He wondered, leaning in close and resting his arms on the bed.

Hunter turned and looked at his siblings. "Wh...what am I doing here?" He wondered, glancing around the hospital room. His gaze fell to his exposed arms and he paled slightly as he recalled what he'd done. Panic edged up into his heart as he realized that his brother and sister must've noticed the bruises on him.

The oldest teen glanced at their sister, taking in her expression as she recalled seeing Hunter on the floor, bleeding. He brought one arm off the bed and wrapped it around Frankie. "You were found by Frankie and Jonah on the floor from your..." Miles swallowed hard and continued. "Your suicide attempt. They called an ambulance and then called our parents and then me. Why didn't you tell me or Frankie, Hunter? And I don't mean about the cutting. Why didn't you tell anyone that dad was hurting you?"

The boy in question glanced at his sister, regret filling him at the haunted expression on her face. When he'd attempted to kill himself, he really hadn't thought it through. He'd been so determined to escape the violence of his father's abuse and the sickness he felt in himself, the same sickness that had made him go to the school with a gun and harass Maya Matlin so harshly and in such sickening ways. He hadn't considered the hell he'd put his twin through if she found him. He hadn't thought of what would happen when Miles who'd tried his hardest to protect him found out that he had been unable to protect Hunter from their father's evil ways. Hunter ducked his head in shame. "I'm sorry. I didn't want you guys to blame yourselves for not noticing." He whispered in a cracky voice.

Frankie looked up at him with tearful eyes, arms wrapped protectively around herself. "Well of course we would blame ourselves, Hunter. You're our brother! You're _my_ twin, but somehow we didn't notice what you were going through."

"I didn't want you two to worry. I didn't want dad to hurt you, Frankie. He already showed his willingness to hurt me and Miles. And then after awhile, I began to believe I deserved it." He bit his lip, eyes becoming shuttered as he thought of how he'd hurt Maya and had shoved Yael. How he'd planned on killing his friends and everyone else who'd pissed him off. He scared even himself, truthfully.

"Would I have deserved it?" Frankie asked, voice strong and firm. Her gaze was locked on her twin brother determinedly.

Hunter threw her a quizzical look, brows furrowed. "I don't get what you mean." He answered softly.

"If positions were reversed and dad was hurting me instead of you, would I have deserved it?" She wondered, knowing what his answer would be before he even said it.

Hunter shook his head wildly, blue eyes looking huge in his pale face. "Of course not!" He exclaimed.

"Well then you didn't deserve it, either." Frankie told him matter of factly.

Miles chewed his bottom lip and looked towards the doorway, standing up when he saw the nurse standing there with the doctor. "Listen, Frankie and I are going to go and get a change of clothes and something to eat so you can get checked out by the doctor, okay?" He asked, smiling sadly and gently squeezing his brother's slender shoulder. He put a hand on the middle of his sister's back and led her out of the room. When they got into the hallway, two police officers were standing there next to a woman dressed in a suit. Miles furrowed his brow and headed over to three people. "Do you guys need to talk to my sister and I, now?"

"Yes. That's why I'm here. Margaret Winters." The blonde woman said, smoothing down her suit before she held out her hand. "I'm with social services. I was called in to take your case. I figured it was best to get things out of the way as soon as we can so that we can work on getting all of you out of the situation you're in and helping your brother."

Frankie nodded in understanding, grabbing her brother's hand and taking in a breath. "We won't be separated, will we?"

Margaret bit her lip as she led the two teens into an empty room, the police officers heading to Hunter's room to guard the door. "I won't lie. Most siblings taken away from their homes are separated. But we can avoid that if someone is willing to take you in. Or I can try my best to make sure that that doesn't happen. There's also the possibility of emancipation. Now." She took a recorder from her purse and placed it on the table. "I'm going to ask you guys some questions and I want you to answer as honestly as you can, okay?"

"We understand." Miles replied quietly.

The woman flipped open a notebook and took out a pen. "How long has your father been abusing you?"

"It started a few years ago for me. Except it was always emotionally until last year." The teenage boy told her. "That's just for me, though. The first time he physically hurt me was a few months ago. He grabbed my arm at first. And then when I wasn't home in time, he shoved me into a wall because I made him look bad. The first time he showed this side to one of my siblings was when he threw a glass and it almost hit Hunter. That same time, he cared more about his reputation and how he'd look to people than he did about us when we were at Degrassi when there was the fire."

"Did any of you ever try telling your mother?" Margaret wondered in disbelief. She couldn't understand how mother could ignore the pain that her children were in.

It was Frankie that answered then, so softly that the woman had to strain to hear. "Multiple times. She listened at one point and kicked him out. But then just a few months later, she allowed him back into the house."

The questions continued on for awhile before Margaret stood up. "Okay. I'll talk to your brother a bit later. Thank you for all of your help."

The two teens watched her pack up to leave, both quiet for a few moments before Miles finally spoke.

"Ms. Winters? What would it take for the three of us to get emancipated?" He wondered.

 **to be continued**

 **A/N: Hunter tells when the physical abuse started, Miles sets to work getting himself and his siblings emancipated, job hunting, recovery, and therapy.**


End file.
